The Islanders and Penguins will do a practice game.
If a tree falls in a forest during a meaningless Game 82, does it make a sound?
After so many weeks of high-stakes hockey, do you watch and enjoy tonight’s finale carefree, as a brief respite before the intensity ramps up again? Or are you sitting this one out?
Offseason Magnificent Dubas Wonder Stroke Erik Karlsson is bummed that he will miss the playoffs for the fifth consecutive year, calling his new team “a huge disappointment.” With an aging core, the Penguins wasted another great season from Sidney Crosby. Their fans and media are sad, and bitter that a team like the Islanders robbed them of the rightful playoff spot they spent the entire season trying to piss away.
I can’t feel bad for the Penguins (not that I would even if they deserved sympathy), as they, along with the Islander and Capitals who made it, are among several teams that stumbled down the stretch throughout the season. None of these teams deserve praise (though Steve Yzerman will still receive it in Detroit after another playoff miss), but I’ll say this for the Isles: Backs against the wall, they won and won and won, with a game to spare. And for all their blown third-period leads, they didn’t lose in regulation as often as the also-rans.
Anyway, tonight is just for stats padding and rest. The Isles will rest banged up Mat Barzal and Pierre Engvall, and Noah Dobson is still out (a pretty big concern, that).
And the Penguins will sit Emil Bemstrom: “A Bemstrom hat trick against the Islanders, no matter how unlikely it may have been, would have forced the Penguins to forfeit a third-round pick instead of a sixth-round pick to the Columbus Blue Jackets in completion of the trade that brought Bemstrom to Pittsburgh.” (There’s seriously a goal-based condition that converts a sixth-rounder to a third-rounder?!)
If you’re watching, enjoy the game. If you’re not, enjoy the night off before the real anxiety sets in, as Carolina awaits.